[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 47 (Wednesday, April 10, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E405-E406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE LIFE OF DR. JACQUELIN PERRY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 10, 2013

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Dr. 
Jacquelin Perry, a renowned orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist 
known for her revolutionary work on treating Polio. Dr. Perry was born 
on May 31, 1918 in Denver, Colorado and was raised in Los Angeles, 
California. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles and 
graduated in 1940 with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education. After 
earning her degree, she joined the United States Army and trained to be 
a physical therapist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, 
D.C. She was then assigned to a hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas, 
where many polio patients were being treated.
   She continued her education and in 1950, Dr. Perry was one of seven 
women who received a medical degree from the University of California, 
San Francisco in a class of seventy-six graduates. When her residency 
was completed in San Francisco, Dr. Perry was recruited to work at 
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. While there, she 
created a program for patients suffering from polio and other diseases 
and helped develop the ``Halo,'' a metal ring that screwed into the 
skull to immobilize a patient's spine and neck that were weakened by 
polio complications.

[[Page E406]]

   From 1972 to the late 1990s, she taught at the University of 
Southern California's School of Medicine. While there, Perry 
established a scholarship for the study of the human gait, which she 
used to research how forward motion is achieved in the legs. During her 
lifetime, she wrote over four hundred peer-reviewed papers and 
contributed to numerous scientific publications. Her book, ``Gait 
Analysis: Normal and Pathological Function,'' published in 1992, has 
become a standard textbook for orthopedists, physical therapists and 
other rehabilitation professionals.
   Dr. Jacquelin Perry passed away on March 11, 2013, at 94 years of 
age in her Downey, California home. Although she suffered from 
Parkinson's disease, it did not deter her from attending work a week 
before her death. Dr. Perry leaves behind a legacy as an inventive 
physician, author and teacher. She lived an extraordinary life, and 
gave her time, her effort and her expertise to the advancement of 
medicine, and to the struggle to defeat Polio and Post-Polio syndrome. 
As a survivor of Polio myself, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
recognizing the life and work of Dr. Jacquelin Perry.

                          ____________________